A lot of it has to do with how Japanese storytelling and art techniques embellish it
The tl;dr is that a lot of sports manga use similar formulas to shonen.
A lot of the tension and excitement in sports manga comes from using realism as a jump, but then using the advantage of a drawn page to exaggerate the action and really extend what we're seeing to be more than just still images.
American comic art, generally, doesn't use the same techniques and pacing.
Like take basketball, the American approach would largely be something like a few shots of taking the ball, dunking it, maybe a few times. There's this rushed feeling not to dwell on it and just show the most exciting thing, the dunk, more series of snapshots than a sequence.
in manga the action is slowed down, something like trying to get the ball in the air is shown as a big epic chase- something that's done in seconds, will be treated as an important action none the less.
And the speedlines- not just in the background, but the way characters will warp with them to depict speed. It's not something traditionally seen in American comics.
And then in terms of writing, American stories(even in sports movies) sees the plot driven between the game, where as manga uses the games to show character. It's stylized, because games are fast, but in manga they can slow down the action to see how a character's approach to getting a ball shows their personality through their playing style.
Or for an example, if an American show or movie wants to show a player being reckless or wild, they'll just show them drinking or partying after the game. If a manga shows a reckless player, it's through their technique while playing and allowing the characters to note that.
Unless you do that, American comic depictions of sports just won't be exciting enough.